A Christmas Tale
by Sparky75
Summary: A seasonal interlude set during s10.


Wishing everyone who reads this a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2017. Thanks for the support this year on the stories I've written, it's very much appreciated and I hope this one goes down as well as the others - some of this may sound a touch familiar as I have at times paraphrased what was said onscreen.

xxx

Ruth sighed heavily as she turned away from the front door of the house in front of her, where despite knocking on multiple occasions the door had stayed resolutely closed and traipsed back down the steps to the pavement. This hadn't been part of the master plan that she'd come up with the previous evening, when she had realised that she'd be spending yet another Christmas Day alone. It wasn't for lack of offers, Erin had very kindly invited her to spend the day with her family, while her mother and step-father had also extended an invitation, but something had held her back from accepting, something she mused as she turned back to her car after one last look at the house in front of her, or rather someone. There was one more place she could try she decided climbing back into her small car, determined not to give up on her plan quite so easily.

* * *

Harry didn't bother looking up when he heard the doors to the pods slide open, despite it being Christmas Day there was a small team on call and therefore some too-ing and fro-ing on the Grid. It was only when he sensed someone stood watching him from the entrance to his office that he stirred. "What are you doing here?" he questioned in lieu of a greeting, a soft smile tempering his words.

"I could ask the same of you," she countered quickly, walking into his office and taking the seat opposite his desk. "I wasn't aware that you were rostered on today." She looked at him carefully as she spoke, he was dressed more casually than usual and he looked exhausted with dark shadows seemingly haven taken permanent residence under his eyes.

Harry shrugged in response, "I wasn't," he replied, before indicating the piles of paperwork strewn across his desk, "but it seemed as good as a time as any to get through some of this."

"Harry!" She said exasperatedly, "it's Christmas Day."

"I'm well aware of that, I've been trying to avoid carol singers at my door for days" He looked over at her, suddenly taking in what she was wearing, "you don't look like you've come in here to work," he said with a smile, "I don't think I've ever seen you in jeans before."

"They're not something I wear very often, but it's cold outside and..." She petered off as she noticed the look he was giving her, a mix of fondness and amusement coming through. It gave her the strength to continue, to do what she'd promised herself the night before to do. "So why are you here Harry, aside from your love of paperwork which would still be piled up even if you worked every hour of the day between now and the New Year?"

"I thought it was as good a way as any to kill a couple of hours before..."

"You've got plans?" Ruth butted in quickly, her heart sinking, this was something she hadn't considered.

"In a manner of speaking," he replied with a wry smile, "If you can call going to my club for lunch and then walking it off with a stroll down the Embankment a plan." He smile dropped momentarily as he realised how that must sound, how lonely he must sound. "Catherine said she'd call later as well, she's spending the day with her mother, but it'll be nice to talk with her."

"So could I tempt you away from it all?" Ruth asked nervously, for a split second earlier when she thought he may have already got plans, she had wondered if they'd included Elena and Sasha; a second family that until very recently Ruth hadn't even know existed and her heart had dropped like a stone into her stomach. The relief when he'd mentioned his club had caused her to feel slightly dizzy and gave her the strength to persevere.

Harry looked up at her, the surprise evident in his face, though they'd become closer again following the Albany incident and his botched proposal of last year, they still weren't fully back to where they once had been. "You've not got your own plans?"

"I do now."

"Oh... I just thought." He trailed off, not really knowing what he was thinking, what he'd been expecting Ruth to be actually doing Christmas Day, despite the amount of time she spent in his thoughts.

"Thought what"

"Oh nothing." He said pushing the chair away from his desk. "What did you have in mind? Lunch somewhere?"

Ruth glanced down at her feet, "In a manner of speaking," she replied cagily. "You're sure that there's nothing you need to get home for?"

He shook his head as he moved to put on his winter jacket, "Ruth for the next couple of hours I'm all yours."

"Ahhh."

"Ahhh what?" He asked at length when she failed to continue.

She cleared her throat and looked at him as he pulled on his leather gloves. " We may well be more that a few hours, are you still keen?"

Harry smiled, his curiosity piqued, "where exactly are we going?"

She smiled, "I'll tell you when we're on our way, are you sure about this?"

Harry edged closer to her and lightly gripped her elbow to steer her out of his office, turning the light out as he did so. "Ruth, whatever you've got planned for us will undoubtedly be better than anything I had planned for myself for the day, and as long as you can promise me a mince pie or a piece of Christmas Cake at some stage, then I'm all yours."

"I'm sure that can be arranged," she answered with a grin as they made their way out to the pods, before heading down to the underground car park where she'd left her car just 15 minutes earlier.

* * *

Ruth glanced over at her sleeping companion hunched up in the car seat next to her as she carefully navigated her way out of London. Fortunately, it being Christmas Day the roads were much quieter than usual and not only were they were making good time, it was also an enjoyable drive with the gentle hum of voices from Radio 4 keeping her company. Harry after quizzing her for several minutes after they'd initially got into the car and getting no answers had fallen silent and she quickly realised that he'd nodded off to sleep. He'd looked tired out over the last few weeks, as if sleep was a commodity he wasn't getting much of, and given what had been going on recently in his life, with the return of a long lost son as well the Russian Witch as Ruth had taken privately to thinking of her, she wasn't overly surprised that he'd almost immediately dropped off. After another fond glance at him, she indicated left to exit at junction 28 of the M25, they were making good time with the traffic being so light and she hoped they'd reach their destination in good time.

* * *

Harry stirred as the car pulled to a stop and stretched as best he could within the confines of the car. For a moment he wondered where he was, before quickly recalling the surprising turn his morning had taken.

"Did you get a good sleep?" Ruth asked, turning round in her seat to look at him properly. She'd been a little concerned at one stage that she would have to shake him to wake him up, but the car coming to a halt seemed to have naturally woken him; she supposed in was his inbuilt sixth sense after spending so many years as a spy.

"I did, thank you." He glanced about, they were parked next to a few cottages on a quiet picturesque street, quite where they were he had no idea, though one thing was for sure, they certainly weren't in London any more. "Sorry for falling asleep on you like that."

Ruth smiled and reached over to squeeze his hand gently before letting it go. "Don't apologise, you obviously needed it."

He nodded, before running his hands over his face in an attempt to wake himself up properly. "It would appear so."

"Would you like a coffee?" She asked stretching to lean back behind the seats where she'd stored a flask feeling that they both needed five minutes. Harry to wake up properly and her to get over the drive.

* * *

"So?" said Harry, looking around him as they clambered out of the car into the still iciness of the street. It was completely quiet with the only signs of life a few shadows moving around in houses and the fairy lights adorning trees in a number of windows.

"So," Ruth echoed his word, pulling on gloves as she did so and wrapping a scarf around her neck. It was bitingly cold and heavy clouds hung over them.

Harry smiled wryly, he still had no idea quite what he was doing here but was happy to just follow where she led. Whatever is was it was bound to be an improvement on a solitary lunch at his club. Still it was fun teasing her, "are you planning on actually telling me what we're doing here at some stage?"

"At some stage, yes," Ruth answered with a smile before making her way down the street. "I thought we could go for a quick walk first, stretch our legs first after the drive."

He stared after her for a moment completely nonplussed, before shrugging his shoulders and heading down the street after her.

* * *

Half an hour later they found themselves ensconced in the warmth of the local pub. A real fire was burning brightly in the grate and Harry felt his face flush from the warmth after spending time outside. "You're busy," he said conversationally to the young girl serving him their drinks.

"We're always busy Christmas Day," she answered with a smile. "We're only open for a couple of hours until 2 o'clock and people pop in while the turkey is cooking for a swift half."

Harry paid for the drinks and made his way over to where Ruth had manged to commandeer them a table close to the fire. He looked around as he did so, taking in the groups of people of all ages sat around with a drink, the occasional santa hat being worn and the lively conversation taking place all around him. "It's been far too long since I've managed to get myself out of London," he said with a smile sitting opposite Ruth and taking a deep sip of his pint.

Ruth nodded in agreement, "you sometimes forget that there's a whole country that carries on outside of London."

He nodded in agreement, "and this is a lovely place," he said in a way that Ruth knew he wasn't just referring to the pub they were sat in. "Whatever the reason, I'm glad you made the decision to drag me along with you?"

"And I'm glad you decided to come with me."

"And now that we're warm and comfortable, you've got plenty of time to fill me in." he grinned with an endearing look on his face that almost certainly never made an appearance on the Grid.

"Soon!" Ruth answered with a chuckle. He'd tried several times on their walk around the picturesque village to find out exactly what they were doing in the large village and it had quickly become an inside joke between them.

He smiled fondly, to be honest he didn't really care. He felt more rested and relaxed than he had in a long time following his nap on the drive here and the walk they'd just taken had revitalised him. They'd even caught a glimpse of the sea at one stage, but had decided to head towards the welcoming lights of The Swan where they were currently settled rather than face more time in the freezing weather. "I asked if they were serving food, but it's just the bar open with it being Christmas." He took another sip of his beer, really wishing he'd had more than just a couple of slices of toast that morning for his breakfast. "We'll have to see if they can sell us some crisps or pork scratchings, I can't see anywhere else being open today."

"I can do better than crisps." She said with a warm smile at the man sat opposite her. "When we finish here then we can go... but don't rush!" she laughed, as Harry took another gulp of his drink as if he was intending on downing it in one. "There's no hurry, we've got all day."

Harry placed his glass back on the table between them guiltily and then laughed when he saw the smile on her face. "You're right," he leaned across the table and squeezed her hand quickly before settling back in his chair letting the warmth and the atmosphere steal over him.

* * *

"So what's the plan now?" Harry asked curiously. He was happy just to go along with the flow, within reason. They had just arrived back at Ruth's car, the light was starting to fade as it often did in mid December having just passed the longest day and both the cold and his hunger were starting to bite. "Can you open the door so I can get in?" he motioned to the set of keys in her hand, "it's cold enough to freeze the tail off a brass monkey out here."

Ruth just smiled at him, biting her lip as she did so, seemingly toying with what to say. In the end she said nothing, but wandered over to a small cottage opposite from where they were parked and walked up the pathway to the front door. "We're not leaving just yet," she called softly over her shoulder, "there's something I'd like you to see first."

He caught her up just as she was letting herself into the house. "That door could do with a lick of paint," he commented as he stepped through the doorway after her.

"That's what the Estate Agent said as well," Ruth grinned, "but I like it how it is; it gives the house a little character I think."

"Hmmm." Harry responded, not totally convinced. "Estate Agent?" he queried, suddenly realising what she'd said. "You've bought this place?"

Ruth shook her head, "not yet," she replied as she set off down the small hallway.

"So what..."

"In a minute Harry," she urged tugging on his arm to get her to follow her. They entered the kitchen area, the room cast in shadows before she turned on the lights which suddenly bathed the room in a warm glow. "I'll explain soon, I promise."

Harry blinked in shock at the sudden light and glanced around him, "it's a lovely room," he said wandering over to the big bay window, "is the garden part of the house as well?"

She nodded, "it's pretty private out there."

"And I bet this room gets a lot of light in the morning," he observed, turning round to take stock of the large kitchen and dining area.

"It does," Ruth replied, looking remarkably pleased with his response. "The sitting room is just through that door there," she said, indicating a door off to the side, "have a look round and then come and find me."

Harry nodded as she disappeared back into the hallway, he was still somewhat perplexed as to what he was actually doing here despite how much he'd enjoyed the day so far. He'd come to the conclusion that Ruth was likely to be buying this place, but for what he wasn't sure. Potentially a holiday home to let out during the summer months and she wanted his advice as to whether it would be a sound investment, or maybe as a bolt hole for her from the stresses of the city. She'd certainly seemed a lot lighter in her demeanour today, he mused to himself as he walked around the ground floor; she was much more like the Ruth he remembered before she'd had to go into exile. The thought of that horrible time made him shudder and he quickly closed the door under the stairs that appeared to lead to the cellar before he made his way up the stairs to try and find her. He glanced quickly into the bathroom and the large bedroom that was behind the next door on the landing. "Ruth" he called.

"In here Harry." He followed her voice a couple of steps further and found her in a smaller bedroom where she was stood staring out of the window. He joined her there, looking out at the rapidly fading light. "You get a glimpse of the sea from this room," she said pointing out into the dusk, "you can't see it now, but just over there is the sea."

"It's a lovely house Ruth," he dug his hands into his jacket trying to ward off the cold, it really was very nice and full of potential he thought, a real home.

She looked up at him with a hopeful smile, "you really think so?"

"I do," he looked around him. "I mean this room is a touch small for a second bedroom, but you could get a double in it at a push and the rest of the house is perfect. You're thinking of buying it?"

"I am," she smiled. "I found it a couple of weeks ago and have been imagining living here ever since."

"Living here?" Harry's stomach suddenly fell to the floor, this was one option he hadn't considered. "Permanently?"

She nodded, seemingly not aware of his reaction or the way his face had fallen as she spoke. "I don't know if I can carry on much longer Harry. I feel that if I stay, that the Service and what we do, will keep digging away at me and one day I won't recognise myself anymore."

"Ruth..."

"Please let me finish. The Home Secretary has offered me a job but I've realised that this life isn't what I want for me anymore." She took a deep breath and turned to face him, their faces half hidden in the shadows, "and it's not what I want for you either." She reached over and took his hand wrapping it in her own wishing for a moment that neither of them were wearing gloves, that she could feel his skin on hers. "When I said a moment ago that I was imagining myself living here, I was only telling you half the story." She ducked her head down suddenly unable to meet his eyes, not wanting to see his face at that moment. "The truth is that I tried to imagine myself living here, I really did... but I couldn't imagine living here without you, couldn't see this room as anything else other than an office for you."

"Me?" Harry started before finding that he was quite suddenly lost for words. "But I thought.."

"I haven't been particularly fair to you since I came back, in fact, take away the particularly, Ruth said with an self-awareness that he hadn't realised she possessed. "I haven't been fair to you at all."

"You've been through an awful lot over the past few years."

"And so have you," she countered quickly, "I forgot that too often when I was pushing you away. I came here the other week and I was walking through as the Estate Agent was showing me each room, and all I was wondering was what you'd think about this place. It was then I realised that it didn't really matter what we'd talk to the neighbours about if they popped over and that I really could see us living in a little house in Sussex... well Suffolk anyway," she finished off with a wry smile.

"You mean?"

She squeezed his hand tightly taking strength from the fact that he was still there and hadn't taken flight, as he'd done in one of her more uncomfortable dreams from the night before. Taking a deep breath she looked up at him meeting his eyes with her own, "I don't know what the future holds, but what I do know is that I want to face that future together. A year ago you asked me to marry you and you wanted to retire from the service," she bit her bottom lip before continuing, "in different ways I stopped you doing both and I'm not proud of either action."

"It wasn't the right time for me to retire then." Harry said with a shell-shocked expression on his face, "and my proposal was hardly the most romantic of all time..."

"True," Ruth smiled, "I can see why I've never heard of proposals at funerals taking place before."

Harry chuckled at this, "I'll try and make more of an effort then next time."

"You mean..."

"Of course," he said, a smile lighting up his face. "Why wouldn't I?"

"You don't have to think about this?"

"It sounds like you're trying to talk me out of this already," Harry laughed. "In all seriousness though Ruth," he said his smile fading slightly as he shuffled slightly closer to her, "I've been waiting for this for five years, why would I suddenly change my mind now."

"For five years?"

He nodded, "longer I suppose. I've never quite worked out when exactly I stopped seeing you as just one of my employees and realised that I was falling in love with you. But ever since that moment, whenever it was, it's just been you."

Ruth coloured slightly, he wasn't holding anything back and it gave her the courage to ask the one question that had been eating away at her. "Not even Elena?"

"Elena?" Harry looked down at her, confusion writ across his face but seeing the look in her eyes he attempted to explain. "I know what it must look like at times," he offered, "but I promise you, whatever there was between Elena and I ended a long, long time ago."

"But she said..."

"Whatever she has said Ruth, to you about me, she'll have done it to throw you off kilter." He shrugged, "she's a spy, a double agent at that and she's had a lot of practice playing with and manipulating peoples emotions over the years." He leaned closer to her and took her chin softly in his hand raising it to make her look at him. "I promise you Ruth, the only thing I feel for Elena is guilt and sometimes that can look a lot like love."

Ruth wrinkled her nose slightly, "I can relate to that," she said softly.

"If it wasn't for Sasha then..." he tailed off.

"You don't think," she began warily.

"Think what?"

She wrinkled up her face as she wondered quite how to articulate her belief, despite what Harry had told her, what she had thought ever since she had first seen Ilya and Sasha in close proximity. Oh well, in for a penny in for a pound she thought as she dived in. "I know Elena told you a long time ago that he was your son, but has she ever offered any proof?" She kept her focus on him unwaveringly as she tried to gage his response. "It's just that he looks an awfully lot like Ilya she finished."

Harry nodded slowly, "I know," he said, "I'm not blind." He took his free hand and rubbed his temple distractedly, "its just after spending so long believing that he's my son, it's hard to let go. When he was a child he was blond, as a lot of children are so I had no reason to doubt that I was his father and the timings worked out. But after that, until I saw him again recently, I hadn't laid eyes on him for years." He took a deep breath. "Don't look so worried Ruth," he chided softly seeing her nerves through the expression on her face. "I'm not going to turn on my heel and run because you've questioned the boys parentage and it's something I will look into, soon. A DNA test should be easy enough to obtain without his knowledge."

"I can help you with that," she replied softly "keep both of your names out of it. But as to you disappearing on me," Ruth smiled cheekily as she decided to lighten the tone ,hardly daring to believe that the conversation had gone quite as well as it had. "Why do you think I asked you that question here when I knew that you had nowhere else you could go!"

He let out a bark of laughter as her words sank in, glad that the subject of Elena and Sasha had been dealt with as much as they could at this stage. "So where exactly do we go from here then Ms Evershed?" he teased, "you're the one with this all planned out."

"Well in the words of an old friend and colleague, perhaps we should just let it all crinkle out."

"I like that idea." His expression suddenly became serious, "I'll put the wheels in motion to hand in my commission as soon as we get back to London."

Ruth looked at him in surprise. "You don't want to wait for the Russian deal to be signed?"

He shook his head. "No, you're right, we've both given enough for the moment. I don't think I'm quite ready to retire just yet, but a new challenge in a new direction appeals to me more than I can say."

She nodded in agreement, "me too."

"So we're both in agreement," he said with a soft smile. He slowly moved his hand from where it had been under her chin and cradled her cheek as he leant down and kissed her softly, their first kiss since they had said goodbye on the docks all those years ago,

"We are." She narrowed the small gap between them looping one arm behind the back of his neck as she guided him back towards her lips. "I think that it's finally time for us," she whispered quietly just as his mouth met hers and they lost themselves in the moment and the kiss.

* * *

"It's started snowing," Harry muttered as they finally pulled out of their heated embrace, "And as much as I don't want to break the moment, we should leave now before the weather makes it too difficult."

Ruth turned her head to look out of the window, the snow indeed was coming down thick and fast and seemed to be settling. "I can't remember the last time I had a white Christmas," she murmured quietly lost in the peacefulness of the falling snow, her arms still wound tightly round Harry's waist.

"Me neither," he replied quietly, a look of bemused amazement still evident on his face from their kiss. "Come on," he said, pulling away from her reluctantly, "we should go."

"Unless." Ruth smiled as a thought struck her.

He looked at her quizzically. "Unless what?"

Ruth dug into the pockets of her coat and produced a small card. "The pub we were at earlier has rooms, we could see if they have one free, I picked up their details while we were there."

"We could, but they were pretty adamant that they'd be closing up."

Ruth shrugged, "it's worth a try. They may take pity on us because of the weather, plus it's not like they'd have to feed us!"

Harry arched an eyebrow at her as he smiled, "ah yes, the food I was promised, my stomach thinks my throat's been cut."

Ruth rubbed his arm comfortingly. "I have a hamper in the boot of the car, there's easily enough there to keep us going. I'd initially thought we could eat here but hadn't factored in that it would be quite as cold as it is. We could have a picnic in our room instead."

"Our room?" Harry said with a warm smile that made the blood rush to hr face,

She nodded as he pulled out his phone and dialled. As he spoke to the proprietor she turned back to the window, looking out in wonder at the darkness and the mesmerising effect the falling snow had on her.

"Well that's us sorted" Harry said with a grin coming over to her and wrapping her in his arms from behind. "It seems they had a late cancellation yesterday so there's a room made up for us. I've said we'll be there in 10 minutes."

"That's wonderful news." As he made to pull away, she stopped him with a hand on his arm, "just one more thing" she said with a smile, turning round to face him as her hand reached up to cup his cheek.

"And what's that?" he asked, his eyes twinkling as he bent his head to kiss her softly once more.

"Happy Christmas Harry."

"It is now," was his hushed response as their lips once again melded softly together and they each lost themselves in the other and the hope for their future.

The End - Thanks for reading!


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